Position Paper - Colombia

[Aigul]

General information

Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for human rights activists. Amid decades of internal armed conflict between the army, guerrilla forces and paramilitary units, dozens of human rights defenders, including labor rights activists, and community and religious leaders are murdered every year. In few if any of these cases are those responsible brought to justice.

According to the reports of credible Colombian human rights organizations and U.N. monitors, the majority of these attacks are carried out by paramilitaries. In the past many paramilitary units were under the direction of, or acted in close association with, the government’s regular armed forces. Those paramilitaries have now supposedly demobilized but there structure remains intact as evidenced by their continual threats and attacks against human rights defenders.

Steps to prevent violence of human rights or/and defend them

First of all i would point out that Colombia doesn't have enough support and collaboration with the government to ensure proper execution of human rights in the country. Moreover, some of the comments of the president cause loss of credibility of NGOs that are working in this area.

Secondly, main driver is solving human rights issues is international environment - institutions and sometimes even countries.

To sum up, Colombia has a long way ahead to implement fundamental solutions for a healthy situation in human rights execution. It requires collaboration with the government, changes in educational system and active involvement of international NGOs.